Six months' jail for cross-dressing in Dubai

A Dubai court has fined an Indian man who said he was rehearsing for a role in a Bollywood movie for cross-dressing after he was seen applying mascara at a shopping mall, a newspaper has reported.

The court found the 45-year-old property development firm manager identified only as PK guilty of cross-dressing in public, the English-language Gulf News said.

"I'm not guilty... I was cross-dressed because I was training to perform a woman's role in Indian cinema. I didn't intend to go to the mall but I went there because I received an urgent phone call," P.K. told the public prosecutor.

Police who apprehended the man said his outfit was glittering like "a woman's clothes", and that "he wore a bra, mascara, women's perfume and a wig" at the Mall of the Emirates, where he was spotted by undercover policemen.

The court fined him 10,000 dirhams ($4000) and gave him a six-month jail sentence, suspended for three years during which the man must not repeat the act. However, the prosecution has appealed to seek stiffer punishment, the paper said, adding that the appeal would be heard next month.

Police records said that he attempted to bribe the policemen in order to avoid being taken to court.

"I didn't bribe anyone... they misunderstood me because I said I was willing to pay a fine if that would be my punishment," the accused said in his statement to the Public Prosecution.

The Appeals Court will hear the case in March.

Property and finance hub Dubai is part of the seven-member United Arab Emirates, but has a diverse culture as expatriates comprise an estimated 80 per cent of the population.